Converse has redesigned its iconic canvas basketball shoe – the Chuck Taylor All Star – to appeal to a growing audience of non-sports-enjoying sneaker followers in the music, fashion, arts and style industries .
“Given that its debut in 1917, the Chuck Taylor All Star has turn into one particular of the world’s most celebrated sneakers, with followers, artists and musicians adopting the brand as a badge of creativity and self-expression,” mentioned a statement from Converse, the a hundred-12 months-previous American shoe organization now owned by Nike.
“The Chuck Taylor All Star II is designed to meet the demands of the inventive way of life and is built for the following generation of self-expression.”
The unique design’s rubber toe-cap, All Star ankle patch and textured foxing – the white rubber strip that connects the sole to the canvas upper – have all been retained.
A sole liner has been added to cushion the wearer’s feet and provide arch support utilizing Nike’s Lunarlon foam material, which has been a essential characteristic in a variety of its most profitable latest basketball shoe patterns.
A strip of padding has been added about the collar of the shoe, and the tongue has been offered a non-slip finish. A perforated artificial micro-suede upper liner has also been launched to aid avoid the wearer’s feet from receiving too sizzling and sweaty.
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“The Chuck Taylor All Star is one particular of the most legendary and iconic sneakers of all time,” stated Jim Calhoun, president and CEO of Converse. “The launch of Chuck II is a ground-breaking minute for Converse as we continue to move the brand forward by way of creativity and innovation, ushering in not just a new sneaker, but a completely new way of pondering.”
The redesign is offered in the two a traditional large-best design, and a minimal-cut version – with a rectangular patch at the leading of the tongue – and is accessible in black, red, blue and all-white for its very first release on 28 July.
Converse began generating its basketball sneakers in 1917, to compete with ball manufacturer Spalding. The now iconic Converse Chuck Taylor All Star design and style is named right after a basketball player of the same identify, who helped refine and improve the design and style of the sneakers and grew to become a Converse spokesman in the 1920s.
It was Taylor’s suggestion to include a protective patch to the ankle, which led to the addition of the distinctive round reinforcement with its star-shaped logo on the side of the high-prime shoes. Taylor’s name was extra to the patch in 1932.
The shoes identified a new wave of fans in the Indie music movement of the 1990s and early 2000s, and continue to be a steetwear staple.
Nike purchased Converse in 2003, in a deal that was then really worth an estimated \$305 million. The Converse assortment was the 1st to be marketed beneath its personal identify, rather than under the Nike banner.
In accordance to the brand, this is the 1st time that the footwear have been redesigned since Taylor’s day, despite the fact that Converse has collaborated with artists and designers to create a variety of prints for the canvas uppers. Comme des Garçons is 1 of the longest standing vogue collaborators, changing the star brand with its red heart-shaped motif.
In 2012, Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer included a Chuck Taylor design in his collection of sneakers and slip-ons for Converse, featuring a handwritten poem celebrating the “sensual curve” for which his architecture is well-known.
Latest additions incorporate Converse X Missoni, with the Italian vogue home including its distinctive zigzag textile layout to the trainers, and a partnership with avant-garde French label Maison Margiela, which covered Chuck Taylors in white paint that cracked when dry to expose peeks of the underlying fabric colour.
Sports activities brand names are more and more focusing on a vogue and street-design audience, adapting the technologies developed for athletes and functioning with designers to make their footwear and clothing far more interesting for a wider audience.
Latest examples have incorporated Nike’s capsule collection with Japanese trend studio Sacai, as effectively as Adidas’ partnership with musician Kanye West and footwear collaborations with style designers Raf Simons and Rick Owens. Musician Pharrell Williams recently recruited architect Zaha Hadid to help redesign the Adidas’ traditional shell-toe trainers.
Nike has also been revisiting and updating a variety of its style classics recently. Final 12 months it reissued its iconic Zvezdochka trainers created by Marc Newson, ten many years right after the shoes were very first launched.
